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الأربعاء، 12 فبراير 2014

New British drone strike stats released to Drone Wars UK

New British drone strike stats released to Drone Wars UK

By Chris Cole

The
Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted that British RAF pilots have
borrowed USAF Reaper drones more than 250 times in
Afghanistan, launching weapons on at least 39 occasions. However the
numbers of strikes by RAF pilots using US Reapers drones is likely to be
higher as the MoD are keeping secret the number of weapons launches by
RAF pilots when they have been officially embedded with the USAF.
The revelations come in a much delayed response to a Freedom of Information request by Drone Wars UK.
Although defence ministers have reported several times in the House
of Commons on weapons launched by British Reaper drones in Afghanistan,
the strikes by RAF pilots using USAF drones have gone completely
unreported. For example on 12 November 2012 Labour MP David Anderson asked the MoD
to give details of "how many unmanned aerial vehicle strikes have been
conducted by the UK since operations commenced in Afghanistan."
Replying on behalf of the MoD, Defence Minister Andrew Robathan stated:

"As of 1 November 2012, 297 Hellfire precision guided
missiles and 52 laser guided bombs have been employed by the UK Reaper
remotely piloted air system (RPAS) since operations commenced in
Afghanistan."

We now know that what Robathan didn�t say was that RAF pilots also
flew borrowed US Reaper drones 271 times in Afghanistan to also launch a
further 39 weapons by the end of December 2012 � meaning that at least
10% of drone strikes undertaken by British RAF pilots at the time were
not reported to Parliament. Given that RAF pilots have also flown US
Reaper or Predator drones a further 1,800 times while officially
embedded with the USAF it is highly likely that RAF pilots have launched
even more strikes.
Two weeks after Robathan�s answer, Conservative MP Rehman Chishti asked "how many times (a) British forces have flown US unmanned aerial vehicles and (b) US forces have flown British unmanned aerial vehicles." Five months later on 24 April 2013, Andrew Robathan confirmed that RAF Pilots had flown 2,150 missions using USAF Reaper and Predator drones
in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq (correcting an initial brief response
he had given in November 2012). Curiously he appears to have simply
forgotten to respond to the second half of the question, asking about US
pilots flying UK drones. However, recently appointed Defence Minister
Anna Soubry appears to have ruled out any flights of UK drones by US
pilots, stating in response to a question from Tom Watson MP that "outside of the launch and recovery phase, UK Reaper RPAS have always been operated by UK pilots."
Drone Wars UK wrote to the MoD in April 2013 asking for a breakdown
of the drone missions undertaken by British RAF pilots using USAF drones
and whether any weapons had been launched during these flights. After a
nine month delay, during which we had to repeatedly press for a
response, the MoD replied on February 4 2013 stating:

"Of the 2,150 missions flown by UK personnel, there were
271 missions in Afghanistan when UK personnel utilised a US Reaper as a
UK Reaper was unavailable. During these missions, UK personnel released
39 weapons. I am withholding information about weapons released by UK
personnel embedded with the United States Air Force on operations in
Afghanistan and Libya under Section 27 [of the Freedom of Information
Act]."

The response from the MoD also does not break down the 2,150 times
RAF pilots flew US drones between the three countries where they were
flown as we requested. No specific details are given about the RAF�s
use of US drones over Libya and the the MoD simply (and rather
bizarrely) says "information is not held for operations in Iraq."
UK and USAF Reapers normally carry both Hellfire missiles and GBU-12
Paveway bombs. However unlike British Reapers, USAF Reapers also carry
the GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition.
Chris Cole of Drone Wars UK said:

"This latest revelation once again demonstrates the
secrecy surrounding the use of armed drones and underlines the need for
greater transparency. Given the controversy surrounding the US use of
armed drones, it is essential that information about drone operations �
and in particular drone strikes � undertaken by British RAF pilots
while embedded with US forces is made available for public scrutiny and
debate rather than being withheld.
The Defence Select Committees, which is holding an inquiry into the
use of drones by UK forces, has recently decided not to hold any of its
sessions on this issue in public. We have urged the Committee to
reconsider and do so again in the light of these revelations.
"The nature of this technology means that drones can simply and
secretly be �borrowed� between different operators making public
accountability when strikes take place very difficult if not
impossible. Even the UK, which is often portrayed as the 'good guy� when
it comes to the use of armed drones, has undertaken 10% more drone
strikes than it has reported to Parliament. Unless we act now to curb
this new weaponry it seems inevitable that drones will increasingly be
used to launch secret and unaccountable military attacks leading to
global instability and increased insecurity."

In the same FoI response, the MoD have given a more detailed
breakdown of weapons launched by British Reapers in Afghanistan which we
report in more detail here.